THE 

STORY  OF  LENA  MURPHY 

THE 

WHITE  SLAVE 

AND  OTHER 

Startling  Revelations 

GRAPHICALLY  TOLD 

BY 

SAMUEL  PAYNTER  WILSON 

AUTHOR  OF 


•CHICAGO  AND  ITS  CESSPOOLS  OF  INFAMY' 

"CHICAGO  BY  GASLIGHT" 

ETC.,  ETC. 


The 
Story  of  Lena  Murphy 

This  little  book  would  not  be  complete  did  it 
not  contain  an  account  of  poor  Lena  Murphy.  In 
the  long  roll  of  anti-Christian  acts  there  is  no 
blacker  record  than  that  which  deals  with  the  lost 
w^omcu  of  our  streets.  Nothing  can  exceed  in  re- 
volting injustice  the  conventional  mode  of  treat- 
ing the  weaker  and  the  most  tempted  as  a  moral 
leper,  while  her  guiltier  partnel-  occupies  the 
highest  places  in  the  synagogue. 

Justice  is  at  least  as  holy  a  thing  as  charity  and 
the  injustice  of  the  world's  judgment  which  the 
Church  has  countersigned  is  as  loathsome  as  the 
selfish  immorality  of  the  man  which  it  condones 
as  a  kind  of  offset  to  the  severity  with  which  it 
avenges  the  faults  of  the  weaker  sinner. 

The  lost  women,  these  poor  sisters  of  Christ,  the 
images  in  which  we  have  fashioned  a  womanhood 
first  made  in  the  image  of  God,  are  as  numerous 
in  Chicago  as  in  any  other  great  city.    The  silent 


81 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

vice  of  Capitols  abounds  here  at  least  to  the  same 
extent  that  it  prevails  in  other  cities  of  the  mil- 
lion class.  The  regulars  of  the  army  of  vice  con- 
stitute the  solid  core  or  neuclus  of  a  host  far 
more  numerous  of  irregulars,  who,  either  from 
the  love  of  license  or  from  the  needs  of  money, 
give  way  to  temptation  which  is  always  at  hand. 
The  inmates  of  "houses,"  are  probably  not  one- 
tenth  of  the  total  number  of  women  who  regard 
their  sex  as  legitimate  merchandise. 

Both  "houses"  and  "roomers"  may  be  found 
in  all  parts  of  the  city.  From  the  business  sec- 
tion back  to  the  grand  trees  of  the  suburbs.  But 
there  is  no  section  in  M^hich  they  are  so  concen- 
trated as  in  the  "Red  Light"  district.  It  was 
there  in  the  hot-bed  of  unrighteousness  that  I 
found  Lena  Murphy  in  the  house  of  Madame 
Leroque. 

Madame  Leroque  is  a  familiar  figure  in  the  alsa- 
tia  of  more  than  one  city.  She  is  famous  in  the 
Chicago  courts  as  having  been  defendant  in  many 
cases  of  wrongdoing.  Her  career  is  known  by  the 
police  from  coast  to  coast,  and  she  has  plied  her 
calling  in  many  of  the  large  cities  of  the  country. 

It  was  after  a  "raid"  that  I  made  Lena  Mur- 


82 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

phy's  acquaiutance.  I  was  making  my  rounds, 
and  slung  by  the  cold  winds  that  swept  the 
streets  bare  of  dust  and  refuse,  I  entered  a  neigh- 
boring  saloon.  Seating  myself  at  a  nearby  table 
I  was  soon  approached  by  the  person  whom  I  call 
Lena  IMurphy.  Lena  was  flushed,  and  somewhat 
forward ;  both  her  eyes  were  discolored,  the  result 
of  a  fight  with  a  French  inmate  of  the  "house'' 
adjoining  the  saloon. 

"I  don't  want  anything,"  I  said  to  Lena. 
"Why  can't  you  talk  decently  once  in  a  while? 
Sit  down  and  let  us  have  a  good  talk." 

Lena  looked  at  me  half  incredulously,  and  then 
sat  down. 

"Why  don't  you  leave  this  life?"  I  said  to  her. 
She  did  not  answer. 

"Are  you  not  tired  of  it  all,  have  you  not  drunk 
to  the  bottom  of  your  cup?"  A  dreamy  look 
came  over  her  face. 

Then  she  said,  "It's  no  use." 

"What's  no  use?"  I  asked  her,  and  after  a  time 
she  told  me  her  story. 

It  was  a  grim  story ;  commonplace  enough,  and 
yet  as  tragic  as  life,  that  story  was  told  to  me  in 
that  smoke-laden  saloon.    The  old  devil  flitted  in 


83 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

and  out,  superintending  his  business ;  the  jingling 
piano  was  going  over  in  the  corner.  Young  girls 
and  women  were  seated  around  the  cheap  pine 
tables.  Some  had  escorts  and  still  others  were 
alone,  nodding  and  winking  at  the  strange  men  as 
they  dropped  in.  Here  in  this  place  where  the  air 
was  full  of  the  reek  of  beer  and  tobacco,  Lena 
spoke  soberly,  in  an  undertone,  so  that  the  pat- 
rons might  not  hear  what  she  was  saying.  Her 
narrative,  which  she  told  without  any  pretense  or 
without  any  appeal  for  sympathy  or  for  help, 
seemed  a  microcasm  of  the  human  race.  The 
whole  of  the  story  was  there ;  from  the  Fall  to  the 
Redemption.  It  seemed  the  blighting  of  the 
hopes  of  mankind.  I  give  it  here  as  a  page,  soiled 
and  grimy  it  may  be,  but  nevertheless  a  veritable 
page  torn  from  the  book  of  life. 

Lena  Murphy  is  a  human  document  in  which  is 
recorded  the  ruin  of  one  of  the  least  of  those  of 
the  brethren  of  Christ.  It  illustrates  many  things 
in  our  social  organization,  from  the  ruthless  sacri- 
fice of  childhood,  due  to  the  lack  of  factory  laws, 
to  the  murderous  brutality  of  conventional  Chris- 
tianity, aping  the  morality  without  the  heart  of 
its  Lord. 


84 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

"No,"  said  Lena,  coldly.  ''It's  no  use!  Don't 
commence  no  religion  on  me.  I've  had  enough 
already.    Are  you  a  Church  member?" 

"Why?"  I  asked.  "No,  I  am  not  a  Church 
member."' 

"I'm  glad,"  she  said,  "you  are  not  a  Church 
member.  I  have  no  use  for  Church  members.  I 
will  never  go  near  any  of  them  again,  and  if  I 
could  do  any  of  them  any  harm,  I  would  travel  a 
thousand  miles  to  do  it." 

Lena  was  excited  and  troubled.  Something  in 
the  past  seemed  to  harass  her,  and  her  language 
was  more  vigorous  than  can  be  quoted  here. 
After  a  little  she  became  more  restrained,  and  by 
degrees  I  had  her  whole  history. 

She  was  born  of  Irish- American  parents  in  Bos- 
ton in  1880.  Her  father  was  a  carpenter  by  trade. 
Her  mother  died  when  Lena  was  a  mere  child. 
Shortly  after  her  death  the  family  crossed  the 
continent  to  California,  where  her  father  married 
again.  He  was  a  drunkard,  a  gambler  and  a  vio- 
lent-tempered man,  much  given  to  drinking,  and 
inclined  to  treat  his  children  with  great  brutality. 

Lena,  after  spending  a  year  or  two  in  a  convent 
school   in   San  Francisco,   left   before'  she   had 


85 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

learned  to  read  or  write,  and  began  to  make  her 
own  living,  at  nine  years  of  age.  She  was  em- 
ployed in  a  shoe  factory,  where  she  made  from 
$3.00  to  $4.50  a  week  at  piece  work.  At  the  fac- 
tory Lena  learned  to  read  out  of  the  newspapers, 
by  the  aid  of  her  companions,  and  when  she  was 
eleven  was  sufficiently  smart  to  obtain  a  situation 
as  companion  and  reader  to  an  old  lady,  who  was 
an  invalid,  at  $15.00  a  month  and  her  board.  The 
place  was  comfortable.  She  remained  there  until 
she  was  eighteen. 

From  that  situation  she  went  as  chambermaid 
to  a  private  family  in  Golden  Gate  Avenue.  She 
was  eighteen,  full  of  vigor  and  gaiety.  She  was 
a  brunette  with  long,  dark  hair,  a  lively  disposi- 
tion, and  withal  the  charming  audacity  and  confi- 
dence of  inexperience.  She  fell  in  love.  The  man 
was  older  than  she,  and  for  a  time  she  was  as 
happy  as  most  young  people  in  their  first  dream. 
Of  course  she  was  going  to  be  married.  If  only 
the  marriage  day  would  come!  But  there  are 
twenty-four  hours  in  every  day,  and  seven  days 
in  every  week.  Her  betrothed,  not  less  impatient, 
hinted  that  after  all  they  were  already  united, 
why  could  not  they  anticipate  the  ceremony.    Did 


86 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

she  not  trust  him  ?  He  swore  that  it  was  all  right, 
that  everybody  did  the  same,  and  they  would  be 
so  much  more  to  each  other. 

But  why  repeat  the  oFt-told  story.  Let  this  be 
a  warning  to  young  womanhood.  At  first  Lena 
would  not  listen  to  the  suggestion.  But  after  a 
time  when  he  pressed  her  and  upbraided  her  and 
declared  that  she  could  not  love  him  if  she  did  not 
trust  him,  she  went  the  way  of  many  thousands, 
only  to  wake  as  they  have  done  with  the  soft  illu- 
sion dissipated  by  the  terrible  reality  of  mother- 
hood drawing  near,  with  no  husband  to  be  a 
father  to  her  child.  When  she  told  him  of  her 
condition,  he  said  it  was  all  right ;  they  must  get 
married  directly.  If  she  would  leave  her  place 
and  meet  him  the  next  day  at  the  corner  of  a  cer- 
tain street,  he  would  take  her  to  a  church  and 
they  would  be  married.  In  all  trusting  innocence, 
relying  upon  his  word,  she  gave  up  her  situation, 
put  up  such  things  as  she  could  carry  and  went 
next  day  to  the  trysting  place.  Of  course  the 
man  was  not  there.  After  waiting  until  heartsick 
she  Avent  to  make  inquiries;  she  soon  discovered 
the  fatal  truth.     Her  lover  was  a  married  man, 


87 


CHIGAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

and  he  had  skipped  the  town,  followed  by  the 
brother  of  another  of  his  victims. 

Imagine  her  position!  She  had  exactly  fifteen 
cents  in  her  pocket.  If  she  had  gone  home  her 
father,  fierce  and  irascible  as  he  usually  was, 
would  have  thought  little  of  killing  the  daughter 
who  had  brought  disgrace  upon  the  family.  She 
dare  not  return  to  her  old  situation  which  she  had 
left  so  suddenly.  She  had  no  character  from  her 
mistress  and  no  references.    "What  was  she  to  do  ? 

Pier  position  is  one  in  which  several  thousands 
of  young  women  find  themselves  all  over  the  world 
at  this  very  moment.  She  was  in  the  position  of 
Eve  after  she  had  eaten  the  forbidden  fruit  and 
had  been  cast  out  of  the  Garden  of  Eden, 

It  was  a  modern  version  of  the  Fall,  and  as  the 
Fall  led  down  to  destruction,  so  it  was  with  Lena 
Murphy.  She  seemed  to  be  shut  up  to  sin.  She 
wandered  about  the  town  seeking  w^ork.  Finding 
none  all  that  day,  she  walked  about  in  the  even- 
ing. She  kept  walking  aimlessly  on  and  on,  until 
night  came  and  she  was  afraid.  When  it  was 
quite  dark  and  she  found  a  quiet  corner  she 
crouched  upon  a  doorstep  and  tried  to  sleep. 
What  was  she  to  do  ?    She  was  lonely  and  miser- 


m 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

able ;  every  month  her  trouble  would  grow  worse. 
Where  could  she  hide?  She  dozed  off  only  to 
awaken  with  a  start.  No  one  was  near ;  she  tried 
to  sleep  again.  Then  she  got  up  and  walked  a 
little  and  rested  again.  When  morning  came  she 
was  tired  out  and  wretched.  Then  she  remem- 
bered the  address  of  a  girl  she  knew  who  was  liv 
ing  in  the  neighborhood.  She  hunted  her  up  and 
was  made  welcome.  But  her  friend  hud  no 
money.  For  one  night  she  sheltered  her,  but 
all  her  efforts  to  find  work  were  in  vain. 

What  was  to  be  done?  On  the  third  day  she 
and  her  friend  met  a  man  who  asked  them  if 
they  wanted  employment.  They  answered  eagerh% 
yes.  He  gave  them  the  address  of  a  woman 
who  he  thought  could  give  them  sometliing  to  do. 
They  went  there  and  found  it  was  a  house  of  ili- 
fame.  The  woman  took  them  in  and  told  theri 
they  might  stay.  Lena  hesitated.  But  what  was 
she  to  do?  She  had  lost  her  character  and  her 
place,  and  she  had  no  friends.  Here  she  could  at 
least  get  food  and  shelter,  and  remain  until  her 
baby  was  born.  It  seemed  as  if  she  was  driven  to 
it.    She  said  to  herself  that  she  could  not  help  it, 


89 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

and  so  it  came  lo  pass  that  Lena  came  "upon  the 
town." 

Two  years  she  remained  there,  making  the  best 
of  it.  Her  baby  fortunately  died  soon  after  it 
was  born,  and  she  continued  to  tread  the  cinder 
path  of  sin  alone.  This  went  on  for  three  years, 
and  then  there  dawned  upon  her  darkened  life  a 
real  manifestation  of  redeeming  love.  One  day 
when  she  had  had  a  fit  of  the  blues  a  young 
man  came  into  the  house.  He  was  very  young, 
not  more  than  twenty.  Something  in  her  appear- 
ance attracted  him,  and  when  they  were  alone  he 
spoke  to  her  so  kindly  that  she  marveled.  She 
told  him  how  wretched  she  was,  and  he,  treating 
her  as  if  she  were  his  own  sister,  encouraged  her 
to  hope  for  release.  "Take  this,"  he  said,  as  he 
left  her,  giving  her  five  dollars,  "Save  up  all  you 
can  until  you  can  pay  off  all  your  debts  and  then 
we  will  get  you  out  of  this." 

He  came  again,  and  yet  again,  always  treating 
her  in  the  same  brothely  fashion,  and  giving  her 
five  dollars  every  time,  and  never  asking  anything 
in  return. 

After  she  had  saved  up  sufficient  store  to  pay 
off  that  debt  to  the  landlady,  which  hangs  like  a 


90 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

mill-stone  around  the  neck  of  the  unfortunate, 
her  young  friend  told  her  he  had  talked  to  his 
mother  and  his  sister,  and  that  as  soon  as  she  was 
ready  they  would  be  happy  to  take  her  into  their 
home  until  such  time  as  they  could  find  her  a  situ- 
ation. Full  of  delight  at  the  unexpected  deliver- 
ance, Lena  made  haste  to  leave.  The  young  man's 
mother  was  as  good  as  her  word.  In  that  home 
she  found  a  warm  welcome,  and  a  safe  retreat, 
Lena  made  great  eftorts  to  break  off  her  habit  of 
swearing,  and  altiiough  she  every  now  and  then 
failed,  she  made  such  progress  that  at  length  it 
was  deemed  safe  and  prudent  to  let  her  take  a 
place  as  a  general  servant.  The  short  stay  in  that 
Christian  home  had  been  to  her  as  a  glimpse  into 
the  opening  paradise.  Hope  sprang  up  once  more 
into  the  girl's  breast.  She  would  be  an  honest 
woman  once  again.  Thus,  as  we  have  seen  her  re- 
produce the  Fall,  so  we  see  the  blessed  work  of 
the  Redemption.  Now  we  have  to  see  the  way 
in  which  his  people,  *'the  other  ones,"  as  she 
called  them,  shuddering,  fulfilled  their  trust. 

Lena  went  to  a  situation  in  Oakland,  Almeda 
County,  California.  ITer  new  mistress  was  a  Mrs. 
McC ,  a  Catholic  of  devout  disposition.     She 


n 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

was  a  general  servant  at  ten  dollars  a  month.  She 
worked  hard,  and  gave  every  satisfaction.  Even 
the  habit  of  profanity  seemed  to  have  been  con- 
quered. Gradually  the  memory  of  her  past  life 
with  its  hideous  concomitants  was  becoming  faint 
and  dim,  when  suddenly  the  past  was  brought 
back  to  her  with  a  shock.  She  was  serving  at  the 
table  when  she  suddenly  recognized  in  one  of  the 
guests  a  man  who  had  been  a  customer  in  the  old 
"house."  She  felt  as  if  she  was  going  to  drop 
dead  when  she  recognized  him,  but  she  said  noth- 
ing. The  "gentleman,"  liowever,  was  not  so  reti- 
cent. 

""Where  did  you  get  that  girl  from?"  he  asked 
I\rr.  MeC . 

"Get  her,"  said  Mr.  McC ;  "why,  she's  a 

servant  in  our  house. " 

"Servant,"  sneered  the  guest;  "I  know  her. 
She  is  a from  San  Francisco." 

How  eternally  true  are  Lowell's  lines: 

Grim-hearted  world,  that  look'st  with  Levite  eyes 
On  those  poor  fallen  by  too  much  faith  in  man, 

She  that  upon  thy  freezing  threshold  lies, 
Starved  to  more  sinning  by  thy  savage  ban, 

Seeking  that   refujre  because   foulest   vice, 

More  God-like  than  thy  virtue  is,  whose  span 


92 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

Shuts  out  the  wretched  only,  is  more  free 
To  enter  Heaven  than  thou  wilt  ever  be! 

Thou  wilt  not  let  her  wash  thy  dainty  feet 

With  such  salt  things  as  tears,  or  with  rude  hair 

Dry  them,  soft  Pharisee,  that  sitt'st  at  meat 

With  him  that  made  her  such,  and  speak 'st  him  fair, 

Leaving  God's  wandering  Iamb  the  while  to  bleat 
Unheeded,  shivering  in  the  pittiless  air; 

Thou  hast  made  prisoned  virtue  show  more  wan 

And  haggard  than  a  vice  to  look  upon. 

But  iu  this  case  it  was  even  worse.  The  lamb 
which  had  sought  shelter  was  driven  back  into 
the  wilderness. 

Mr.  McC would  not  believe   it,  but  said 

that  he  woud  tell  his  wife.    Mrs.  McC at  once 

sent  for  Lena. 

"If  only  I'd  been  wise,"  she  said  to  me  when 
telling  the  story,  "I  would  have  denied  it,  and 
they  would  have  believed  me.  But  I  thought  I 
had  broken  with  all  that,  and  that  I  had  to  tell 
the  truth.  So  I  owned  up  and  said,  yes,  it  was 
true ;  I  had  been  so,  but  that  I  had  reformed,  and 
had  left  all  that  kind  of  life.    But  the  old  woman, 

d her!  she  would  listen  to  nothing.     *  Faith, 

she  would  not  have  the  disgrace  of  having  a 

in  her  house!'  that  was  all  she  said." 

"Have  you  anything  against  me — ^liave  I  not 


93 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

done  your  work  for  you  ever  since  I  came  to 
you?"  I  asked  her. 

*'No,"  was  the  reply,  "I  have  nothing  against 
you,  but  I  cannot  have  a  person  of  your  character 
in  my  house.    You  must  go." 

Lena  implored  her  to  give  her  a  chance.  "You 
are  a  Catholic,"  she  said,  "will  you  not  give  me  a 
helping  hand?" 

"No,"  was  the  inexorable  reply.  "That  does 
not  matter.    I  cannot  have  a —  in  my  house. ' ' 

Feeling  as  if  she  were  sinking  in  deep  water 
Lena  fell  on  her  knees  sobbing  bitterly  and  beg- 
ged her  for  the  love  of  God  to  have  mercy  on  her 
and  at  least  to  give  her  a  recommendation  so  that 
she  might  get  another  place. 

It  was  no  use,  "I  cannot  do  that,  for  if  any- 
thing went  wrong  I  would  be  to  blame  for  it." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Lena,  "at  least  give  me  a 
line  saying  that  for  the  months  I  have  been  here  I 
have  worked  to  your  satisfaction." 

"No,"  she  said. 

"The  old  hound!"  exclaimed  Lena  to  me.  "My 
God,  if  ever  I  get  the  chance  I'll  have  that  she 
devil's  life.  Yes,  if  I  swing  for  it.  What  does  it 
matter?    She's  blasted  my  life.     When  I  saw  it 


% 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

was  all  no  use,  1  lost  all  heart  and  all  hope  and  I 
gave  up  then  and  there.  There's  no  hope  for 
such  as  me.    No,  I  had  my  chance  and  she  spoiled 

it,  d n  her  for  a  blasted  old  hypocrite.     And 

now  it's  no  use.    No  use,  never  any  more.    I  use 

dope,  I  drink.    I'm  lost.    I'm  only  a .    I  shall 

never  be  anything  else.  I'm  far  worse  than  ever 
I  was,  and  am  going  to  the  devil  as  fast  as  I  can. 

It 's  no  use,  but  d n  me  to  blue  blazes  if  I  ever 

come  within  a  thousand  miles  of  that  old  fiend 
if  I  don't  knife  her.  "When  I  think  what  I  might 
have  been  but  for  her!  Oh,  God!"  she  cried, 
"What  have  they  done  with  my  life?" 

What  indeed  ?  After  tha  Fall  the  Redemption, 
after  the  Redemption  the  Apostacy  and  now  as 
the  result,  one  of  *'The  Images  ye  have  made  of 
me." 

"And  He  took  him  by  the  right  hand  and  lifted 
him  up  ! "    Lifted  him  up !    My  brother. ' ' 

Nothing  is  more  obvious  to  any  one  who  pays 
attention  to  the  teachings  of  our  Lord  than  the 
fact  that  the  conventrional  judgment  about  the 
reputable  and  disreputable  is  foreign  to  the  Chris- 
tian ideal.  Who  are  the  most  disreputable  women 
in   Chicago?     They    are   those   who    have    been 


95 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

dowered  by  society  and  Providence  with  all  the 
gifts  and  all  the  opportunities;  who  have  wealth 
and  who  have  leisure,  who  have  all  the  talents  and 
who  live  entirely  self-indulgent  lives,  caring  only 
for  themselves,  thinking  only  of  the  welfare  of 
their  brothers  and  sisters  in  the  midst  of  whom 
they  live.  Those  women  who  have  great  oppor- 
tunities only  to  neglect  them,  and  who  have  great 
means  only  to  squander  them  upon  themselves, 
are  more  disreputable  in  the  eyes  of  God  and  man 
than  the  worst  harlot  in  the  city  of  Chicago. 

Among  the  many  sad  aspects  of  the  present 
time,  the  saddest  is  the  way  in  which  it  presses 
upon  women.  More  than  ever  before  at  this  time 
do  I  feel  able  to  join  in  the  old  Jewish  prayer,  in 
which,  every  Saturday,  man  thanks  God  that  he 
was  not  born  a  woman.  For  man  in  the  midst  of 
his  misery  and  destitution  is  not  tormented  by  the 
temptation  to  regard  his  virtue  as  a  realizable 
asset.  That  is  the  supreme  misery  of  woman. 
Therefore  I  am  glad  to  think  that  some  women 
are  bestirring  themselves  for  women.  If  one  go 
down  into  the  depths  and  come  face  to  face  with 
the  actual  facts  of  human  life  we  will  find  that  at 
this  moment  in  the  city  the  economic  difficulty 


96 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

confronts  us  at  every  turn.  The  poor  outcast  pre- 
viously mentioned  was  willing  and  anxious  to 
leave  the  life  she  was  leading  and  did  for  a  while, 
yet  difficulties  arose  that  blasted  the  poor  girl's 
life.  So  it  is  all  around  the  chapter.  For  unless 
all  the  teachings  of  all  the  religions  is  false  it  is 
better  for  a  man  to  lose  his  life  and  be  miserable 
and  poor  and  tormented  than  be  comfortable  and 
the  possessor  of  all  things  and  lose  his  own  soul. 
None  are  in  such  danger  of  losing  their  souls  as 
those  who  are  wrapped  up  in  their  own  selfish 
comfort  and  who  forget  the  necessities  of  the 
brothers  and  sisters  of  the  Lord. 

The  idle  rich !  It  is  difficult  indeed  to  find  lan- 
guage adequate  to  express  the  sense  of  shame,  of 
disgust,  and  humiliation  with  which  we  look  upon 
those  whom  a  bountiful  providence  and  a  kindly 
society  has  showered  all  the  wealth  of  the  world. 
They  have  all  their  hearts  can  desire  and  they  usft 
all  these  blessings  merely  to  gild  their  own  styes 
and  to  increase  the  quality  and  to  improve  the 
flavor  of  the  swill  upon  which  they  fatten.  It  is 
difficult  to  speak  calmly  of  such  people  or  to  ex- 
press the  degree  of  confusion  and  sorrow  and  in- 
dignation which  that  class  of  self-indulgent  wo- 


97 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

men  excite  in  the  mind  of  any  intelligent  person. 
I  believe  that  the  frivolous,  self-indulgent  woman 
of  fashion  and  woman  of  society  is  worse,  infin- 
itely worse,  than  many  a  harlot.  These  are  harsh 
words,  but  decent  manhood  and  womanhood  know 
them  to  be  true  and  well  spoken,  and  I  feel  glad 
to  konw  that  they  reverberate  throughout  the 
land. 

Here  are  two  typical  cases.  There  is  a  poor  girl 
come  up  from  the  country  to  this  great  city,  and 
who  is  alone  and  friendless.  She  is  good  looking 
and  gets  a  position  as  a  saleswoman  or  as  a  ste- 
nographer. Her  health  gives  way  and  she  is  laid 
up.  "When  she  comes  back  her  place  is  filled  and 
she  is  out  of  a  berth.  She  goes  from  place  to  place 
seeking  work,  and  you  who  have  never  had  to 
do  so  do  not  know  how  hard  it  is  to  seek  for 
work  day  after  day  and  find  none.  In  the  midst 
of  her  trouble,  when  she  is  nearly  at  her  last  cent, 
someone  romes  along.  He  likes  her  looks,  and 
proposes  tc/  Aer,  with  more  or  less  preamble,  that 
she  go  and  live  with  him.  That  is  the  way  many 
begin.  She  has  no  friends,  she  has  no  money,  and 
the  man  at  least  seems  kind  and  sympathetic, 
which  is  more  than  most  of  them  are.    She  must 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

live.  She  sees  starvation  before  her.  Her  pov- 
erty, not  her  will,  consents.  She  becomes  his  mis- 
tress. After  a  while  he  tells  her  to  go  and  do  as 
the  others  do.  She  is  now  down  in  the  "levee" 
district,  loathing  the  life  she  leads  and  drowning 
her  thoughts  Avith  drink  and  often  wishing  that 
when  she  lies  down  to  sleep  she  may  never  rise 
again.  That  is  the  common  type.  There  is  an- 
other type,  a  woman  who  is  young  and  strong  and 
healthy,  pretty  and  lazy.  She  does  not  want  to 
work  if  she  can  help  it.  She  sees  that  if,  in  the 
bloom  of  youth,  she  makes  a  market  of  herself 
she  can  earn  more  money  in  a  week  than  what  she 
could  earn  in  a  month  by  hard  work.  She  sells 
herself  accordingly.  She  says,  "I  suppose  my 
body  belongs  to  myself,  and  I  cannot  see  why  I 
cannot  do  what  I  like  with  my  own."  So  she 
does  what  she  likes  and  makes  a  living  out  of  it. 
That  is  another  type. 

Both  types  are  confounded  under  the  common 
cognomen  of  fallen  women  or  prostitutes.  There 
is  all  the  difference  between  them  that  there  is 
between  the  fixed  stars.  I  have  given  both  in  or- 
der that  you  may  compare  them  to  other  counter- 
parts among  the  idle  rich.    There  is  a  woman,  she 


99 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

is  young,  she  belongs  to  the  cream  of  the  cream  of 
society.  She  has  all  the  education  which  wealth 
can  secure  her,  she  has  carriages  to  bear  her  to 
and  fro  so  that  she  will  never  have  to  put  her 
dainty  foot  to  the  pavement.  She  thinks  of  noth- 
ing except  pleasing  herself,  and  uses  her  wealth 
to  minister  to  vanity  and  her  glory.  She  uses  her 
carriages  solely  for  her  own  gratification,  and 
uses  that  priceless  and  peerless  influence  which 
a  good  and  cultivated  woman  can  exercise,  upon 
her  acquaintances  to  increase  the  excitement  and 
frivolity  of  society.  She  does  what  she  likes 
with  her  own.  She  uses  it  all  for  herself,  but, 
having  some  self-respect,  she  draws  the  line  at  her 
carcass,  which  the  other  does  not.  Between  the 
two  what  is  the  difference?  Each  one  uses  what 
she  has  received  to  minister  to  her  own  gratifica- 
tion, her  own  vanity  and  her  own  excitement 
Upon  one  society  showers  all  its  condemnation. 
Press,  pulpit  and  women  all  unite  in  hurling  the 
severest  anathemas  upon  her  who  is  often  more 
"sinned  against  than  sinning,"  while  they  have 
nothing  but  adulation  and  praise  for  the  pet  of 
society  who  has  never  spent  a  single  thought  ex- 


100 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

cepting  upon  herself.  That  is  bad.  It  is  not  our 
Lord's  way  of  judging. 

Unfortunately  there  is  even  worse  than  that. 
Some  of  our  wealthy,  women  do  not  even  draw  the 
line  at  their  carcass.  There  is  one  thought  that 
strikes  us  with  amazement — how  the  women 
reared  in  this  great  republic,  the  daughters  of  our 
millionaires,  who  have  been  born  with  every  bless- 
ing which  American  civilization  can  give  them, 
instead  of  taking  pride  in  their  American  citizen- 
ship are  ready  in  their  lust  for  vainglory  and 
their  mad  desire  to  outstrip,  if  only  by  a  hair's- 
breadth,  some  rival,  to  sell  themselves  as  much  as 
any  harlot  on  the  "levee"  to  the  most  miserable 
scion  of  European  nobility. 

The  following  is  taken  from  a  speech  made  by 
Mr.  William  F.  Stead,  before  the  Chicago  Wom- 
ans  Club : 

"I  remember  one  of  our  dukes  who  bore  an  an- 
cient name.  He  was  divorced  on  the  charge  of 
cruelty  and  adultery.  On  one  occasion  when  I 
was  editing  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  he  v^Tote  a 
letter  for  publication  in  the  paper,  which  dis- 
coursed upon  the  subject  of  bimentalism.  I  sent 
it  back.  I  wrote  him  I  did  not  wish  to  publish  that 


tOi 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

letter  or  any  other  letters  in  that  controversy 
now.  But  I  told  hiin  I  should  not  be  frank  if  I 
did  not  tell  him  that  the  reason  why  I  sent  the 
letter  back,  however,  was  not  because  of  the  sub- 
ject, but  because  of  its  author.  "Rightly,  or 
wrongly,"  I  wrote,  "you  have  the  reputation  for 
ruining  women  for  your  own  pleasure,  and  there- 
fore you  are  infinitely  worse  than  though  you  cut 
throats  for  hire;  therefore  I  return  your  manu- 
script." Shortly  afterwards  he  went  to  the  United 
States  and  married  an  American  woman  of  wealth. 
What  do  you  think  of  your  women  if  they  allow 
themselves  to  be  disposed  of  in  this  fashion?" 

Mr.  Stead  has  put  the  question  straight  to  us, 
and  it  goes  direct  to  the  homes  of  our  millionaires. 

Why  should  our  young  men  and  women  waste 
their  lives  and  the  divine  enthusiasm  of  youth 
simply  in  their  own  gratification,  and  why  should 
they  give  all  these  to  wine  and  women  and  to  all 
the  methods  of  fashionable  debauchery  when 
there  are  men  and  women  and  children  at  our 
very  door  whom  they  can  lielp,  and  for  not  help- 
ing, whom  will  they  have  to  answer  on  the  Day  of 
Judgment?  Why,  instead  of  wasting  their  time 
and  their  lives  in  idleness,  why  not  devote  more 


J02 


CHICAGO  BY  GAS  LIGHT. 

time  to  the  class  who  were  nearest  and  dearest  to 
the  Master's  heart  ?  It  is  within  the  power  of  our 
"idle  rich"  to  save  many  Lena  Murphys. 


03 


The  Lost  Sisterhood 

Prevalence  of  Prostitution  in  Chicago. 

Prostitution  is  an  appalling  evil  in  Chicago. 
One  can  scarcely  look  in  any  direction  without 
seeing  some  evidence  of  it.  Street  walkers  parade 
the  most  prominent  thoroughfares,  dance  houses 
and  low  concert  halls  flaunt  their  gaudy  signs  in 
public,  and  houses  of  ill-fame  are  conducted  with 
a  boldness  unequalled  anywhere  in  the  world. 
The  evil  is  very  great,  and  is  assuming  larger  pro- 
portions every  year,  and  I  now  make  the  startling 
assertion,  that  the  prostitutes  of  Chicago  are  as 
numerous  as  the  members  of  the  largest  denomina- 
tion of  the  city.  From  the  most  reliable  informa- 
tion obtainable  there  are  about  six  hundred  houses 
of  prostitution  and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
assignation  houses  in  Chicago.  The  number  of 
women  known  as  prostitutes,  and  those  who  ^'re- 
ceive" privately,  and  associate  with  women  whose 


iiji 


CHICAGO 

character  is  beyond  reproach,  is  astounding.  Of 
the  number  of  women  who  resort  to  prostitution 
as  a  means  of  securing  money,  or  from  other  mo- 
tives, who  yet  manage  to  maintain  positions  of  re- 
spectability in  society,  of  course  no  estimate  can 
be  made.  They  are,  unfortunately,  very  numer- 
ous, and  are  said  hy  persons  in  position  to  speak 
with  some  degree  of  accuracy  to  equal  the  pro- 
fessionals in  numbers. 

These  things  are  sad  to  contemplate  and  disa- 
greeable to  write  about.  The  whole  subject  is 
unsavory;  but  no  picture  of  Chicago  would  be 
complete  did  it  not  include  an  account  of  this  ter- 
rible feature  of  city  life,  which  meets  the  visitor 
at  almost  every  turn ;  and  it  is  believed  that  some 
good  may  be  accomplished  by  stripping  the  sub- 
ject of  all  its  romance,  and  presenting  it  to  the 
reader  in  its  true  and  hideous  colors. 

The  professional  women  of  Chicago  represent 
every  grade  of  their  wretched  life,  from  the  hells 
of  the  fashionable  houses  of  ill-fame  to  the  slowly 
dying  inmates  of  a  Dearborn  street  brothel.  They 
begin  their  career  with  the  hope  that  they  will 
always  remain  in  the  class  into  which  they  enter, 
but  find,  when  it  is  too  late,  they  must  go  steadily 


122 


CHICAGO 

down  into  the  depths,  closing  their  lives  with  a 
horrible  death  and  a  pauper's  grave. 

The  so-called  first-calss  houses  of  Chicago  are 
conducted  with  more  or  less  secrecy.  It  is  the 
object  of  the  proprietress  to  remain  unknown 
to  the  police  as  long  as  possible,  but  she  finds 
at  last  that  this  is  impracticable.  The  sharp-eyed 
patrolmen  soon  discover  suspicious  signs  about 
the  house  and  watch  it  until  their  suspicions  are 
verified,  when  the  establishment  is  recorded  as  a 
house  of  ill-fame,  and  placed  under  police  surveil- 
lance. These  houses  are  not  numerous,  however, 
and  not  more  than  thirty  in  the  entire  city.  Large 
rents  are  paid  for  them,  and  they  are  generally 
hired  furnished.  They  are  located  in  some  quiet, 
respectable  portion  of  the  city,  and  outwardly 
appear  to  be  simply  private  dwellings.  It  often 
happens  that  the  neighbors  are  in  ignorance  of  the 
true  character  of  the  house,  long  after  it  is  known 
to  the  police.  It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  some  of 
our  finest  avenues  and  boulevards  are  infected 
with  the  infamous  "houses."  The  proprietress 
is  a  woman  of  respectable  appearance,  and  passes 
as  a  married  woman,  some  man  generally  living 
with  her,  and  passing  as  her  husband.     This  en- 


123 


CHICAGO 

ables  her  in  case  of  trouble  with  the  authorities, 
to  show  a  legal  protector  and  insist  upon  her 
claim  to  be  a  married  woman. 

The  inmates  are  women  in  the  first  flush  of  their 
charms.  They  are  handsome,  well  dressed,  gen- 
erally refined  in  manner,  and  conduct  themselves 
with  outward  propriety;  rude  and  boistrous  con- 
duct, improper  language,  and  indecent  behavior 
are  forbidden  in  the  parlors  of  the  house,  and  a 
casual  visitor  passing  through  public  rooms  of  the 
place  would  see  nothing  out  of  the  usual  way. 

It  is  difficult  to  learn  the  causes  which  induce 
these  women  to  adopt  a  life  of  shame.  No  reliance 
whatever  can  be  placed  upon  the  stories  they  tell 
of  themselves.  It  cannot  be  doubted,  however, 
that  they  are  generally  of  respectable  origin,  and 
some  of  them  are  otherwise  fitted  to  adorn  the 
best  circles  of  society.  Some  are  young  women 
who  have  been  led  astray  by  men  who  have  failed 
to  keep  their  promises  to  them,  and  have  drifted 
into  sin  to  hide  their  shame,  others  are  v/ives  who 
have  left,  or  have  been  deserted  by  their  husbands ; 
others  still  have  deliberately  chosen  the  life,  grati- 
fying their  love  for  money  and  dress ;  and  others 
again  appear  to  be  influenced  by  motives  of  pure 


124 


OHICAOO 

licentiousness.  Whatever  the  cause  of  adoption 
of  such  a  life,  it  is  evident  they  have  seen  bet- 
ter days.  They  are  still  fresh  and  attractive,  and 
for  a  while  pursue  their  gilded  career  of  sin  and 
shame,  hoping  that  they  may  be  fortunate  enough 
to  retain  their  place  in  the  aristocracy  of  vice. 
The  proprietress  will  have  no  others  than  attrac- 
tive women  in  her  house;  and  as  soon  as  the  in- 
mates begin  to  show  signs  of  the  wretched  life 
they  lead,  as  soon  as  sickness  falls  upon  them,  or 
they  lose  their  beauty  and  freshness,  she  sends 
them  away,  and  fills  their  places  with  more  at- 
tractive women.  She  has  no  difficulty  in  doing 
this,  for  she  has  her  agents  on  the  watch  for  them 
all  the  time,  and  unfortunately  new  women  are 
always  soliciting  admission  to  such  places.  Be- 
sides this,  the  proprietress  knows  that  her  patrons 
soon  grow  tired  of  seeing  the  same  women  in  her 
establishment.  She  must  make  frequent  changes 
to  satisfy  them,  and  she  has  no  scruples  about 
turning  a  woman  out  of  her  doors  to  begin  the 
descent  of  the  ladder  of  shame.  Therefore,  about 
one  or  two  years  is  the  average  term  of  the  stay 
of  a  woman  in  a  fashionable  house.  A  few  do  re- 
main longer,  but  the  number  is  so  small  as  to 


125 


CHICAGO 

constitute  scarcely  an  exception  to  the  general 
rule.  As  long  as  her  ' '  boarders ' '  remain  with  her, 
the  proprietress  treats  them  fairly  enough,  apart 
from  the  fact  that  she  manages  to  get  out  of  them 
all  the  m,oney  she  can.  The  women  earn  large 
amounts  of  money,  but  a  considerable  portion  of 
this  goes  for  board  and  other  expenses  in  the 
house,  and  their  extravagant  habits  and  tastes 
exhaust  the  rest.  They  save  nothing,  and  if  taken 
sick  must  go  to  the  Charity  Hospital  for  treat- 
ment. Their  dream  of  saving  money  lasts  but  a 
short  time,  and  they  leave  the  fashionable  houses 
penniless. 

The  visitors  to  these  houses  are  men  of  means. 
No  one  without  a  full  pocket  can  afford  such  in- 
dulgence. Visitors  are  expected  to  spend  consid- 
erable money  for  wine,  which  is  always  furnished 
by  the  proprietress  at  the  most  exhorbitant  prices, 
and  at  a  profit  of  about  200  per  cent.  A  large 
part  of  her  revenue  is  derived  from  such  sales, 
and  she  looks  sharply  after  this  branch  of  the 
business.  The  shamelessness  with  which  men  of 
standing  and  prominence,  many  of  whom  are 
fathers  of  familes,  resort  to  these  houses  and 
display  thentselves  in  the  parlors  is  astounding. 


126 


CHICAGO 

Indeed,  the  keeper  of  one  of  the  most  fashionable 
houses  boasts  that  married  men  are  her  principal 
customers.  Sometimes  the  visitor  desires  that  his 
visits  shall  not  be  known.  For  such  persons  there 
are  private  rooms,  where  they  are  sure  of  seeing 
no  one  but  the  proprietress  and  the  woman  for 
whom  their  visit  is  intended.  These  houses  are 
largely  attended  by  strangers  visiting  Chicago; 
these,  thinking  themselves  unknown  in  a  large 
city,  care  little  for  privacy,  and  boldly  show  them- 
selves in  the  general  parlors.  The  proportion  of 
married  and  middle-aged  men  among  them  is  very 
great.  You  will  find  among  them  lawyers,  physi- 
cians, judges  of  the  courts,  members  of  congress, 
and  even  ministers  of  the  gospel,  from  all  parts 
of  the  country.  This  may  seem  a  startling  asser- 
tion, but  the  police  authorities  will  confirm  it.  If 
the  secrets  of  these  places  as  regards  their  visi- 
tors could  be  made  public  there  would  be  a  ter- 
rible rupture  in  many  happy  families  throughout 
the  land,  as  well  as  in  the  metropolis.  Men  who 
at  home  are  models  of  propriety,  seem  to  lose  all 
sense  of  restraint  when  they  come  to  Chicago. 
These  same  gentlemen  would  be   merciless  towards 


127 


CHICAGO 

any  female  member  of  their  famsilies  who  should 
display  a  similar  laxity. 

To  return  to  the  women:  the  inmates  of  the 
first-class  houses  rarely  remain  in  them  for  more 
than  two  years.  Their  shameful  and  dissipated 
lives  render  them  by  this  time  unfit  for  compan- 
ionship with  their  aristocratic  associates.  The  pro- 
prietress quickly  detects  this  and  remorselessly 
orders  them  from  her  house.  She  knows  the  fate 
that  awaits  them ;  but  her  only  care  is  to  keep 
her  house  full  of  fresh  and  attractive  women. 

The  Next  Step. 

Having  quitted  the  fashionable  house,  the 
wretched  woman  has  no  recourse  but  to  enter  a 
second-class  house,  and  then  go  down  one  grade 
lower  in  vice.  The  proprietress  is  cruel  and  exact- 
ing, and  boldly  robs  her  boarders  whenever  oc- 
casion offers.  The  visitors  are  more  numerous, 
but  are  a  rougher  and  coarser  set  than  those  who 
patronized  her  in  the  first  stages  of  her  careei. 
Money  is  less  plentiful,  her  life  is  harder  in  every 
way,  and  she  seeks  relief  from  the  reflections  that 
will  crowd  upon  her  in  drink,  and  perhaps  to 


128 


CHICAGO 

drunkenness  adds  the  vice  of  opium.  Her  health 
breaks  fast,  what  was  left  of  her  beauty  when  she 
entered  tlie  house  soon  fades,  and  in  two  or  three 
years  she  becomes  unfit  to  even  remain  in  a  sec- 
ond-class house.  She  is  turned  into  the  street  by 
the  proprietress,  who  generally  robs  her  of  her 
money  and  jewelry,  and  sometimes  even  of  her 
clothing,  save  what  she  has  on  at  the  time.  The 
wretches  who  keep  these  houses  do  not  hesitate 
to  detain  a  woman's  trunk,  or  other  effects,  upon 
some  trumped-up  charge  of  arrears  or  debt,  when 
they  have  no  longer  any  use  for  her.  The  poor 
creature  lias  no  redress,  and  is  obliged  to  submit 
in  silence  to  any  wrong  practiced  upon  her. 

The  woman  whose  career  opened  so  brilliantly 
is  now  a  confirmed  prostitute  and  drunkard, 
bloated,  sickly  and  perhaps  diseased ;  she  is  with- 
out hope,  and  there  is  notliing  left.  It  is  only  four 
or  five  years,  perhaps  less,  since  she  entered  the 
fashionable  boulevard  mansion,  beautiful  and  at- 
tractive in  all  the  freshness  of  her  charms,  and 
little  dreaming  of  the  fate  in  store  for  her.  She 
is  not  an  exception  to  the  rule,  however.  She  has 
but  followed  the  usual  road,  and  met  the  inevita- 
ble doom  of  her  class. 


129 


CHICAGO 

Going  Down  Into  the  Depths. 

From  the  second-class  house  the  lost  womaa 
passes  into  one  of  the  bagnios  of  the  "red-light 
district"  or  some  similar  place.  Here  her  lot  is 
infinitely  more  wretched.  Her  companions  are  the 
vilest  of  her  class,  and  the  visitors  are  among  the 
lowest  order  of  men  who  cannot  gain  admittance 
into  places  such  as  she  has  left.  She  finds  herself 
a  slave  to  the  keeper  of  the  house,  who  is  often  a 
burly  rufp.au,  and  even  more  brutal  than  a  woman 
would  be  in  the  same  position.  She  is  robbed  of 
her  earnings,  is  beaten,  and  often  falls  into  the 
iiands  of  the  police.  She  becomes  familiar  with 
the  courts,  the  bridewell,  and  whatever  of  woman- 
ly feeling  remained  to  her  is  crushed  out  of  her. 
She  is  a  brute  simply.  She  remains  in  Green,  Peo- 
ria or  some  other  like  street  for  a  year  or  two- 
human  nature  cannot  bear  up  longer  under  such  a 
life — and  is  then  unfit  to  remain  even  there.  "Would 
you  seek  her  after  this  you  will  find  her  in  the 
terrible  dens  and  living  hells — even  in  places  of 
infamy  and  degredation  that  a  former  Mayor  was 
compelled  to  stamp  out,  so  utterly  repugnant  was 
it  to  even  the  lowest  instincts  of  man.     To  the 


X30 


CHICAGO 

buruing  disgrace  of  Chicago,  some  of  these  pes- 
tiferous vice-breeding  phices  are  allowed  to  exi.^l 
i>y  the  "stink-pots"  who  govern  the  city,  Thes-^ 
poor,  vile,  repulsive  women,  slowly  dying  from 
Iheir  bodily  ailments,  and  the  effects  of  drink  anii 
drugs,  have  reached  the  bottom  of  the  ladder,  and 
can  go  no  lower.  She  knows  it,  and  in  a  sort  of 
dumbly,  desperate  way,  is  glad  it  is  so.  Life  is 
such  a  daily  torture  to  her,  that  death  only  offers 
her  any  relief.  She  is  really  a  living  corpse.  The 
end  soon  comes.  Some  die  from  the  effects  of 
their  terrible  lives,  and  oh !  such  fearful  deaths ; 
and  others  are  killed  or  fatally  injured  in  drunken 
brawls  which  so  often  occur  in  this  locality ;  and 
others  still  seek  an  end  of  their  miserable  exist- 
ence in  the  dark  waters  of  Lake  Michigan. 

I  draw  no  exaggerated  picture  of  the  gradual 
but  inevitable  descent  of  a  fallen  woman  in  Chi- 
cago. Every  detail  is  true  to  life.  Seven  years 
is  the  average  life  of  an  abandoned  woman  in  the 
great  city.  She  may  begin  her  career  with  all  the 
eclat  possible,  she  may  queen  it  by  nature  of  her 
beauty  and  charms  in  some  fashionable  house,  at 
Ihe  beginning,  and  may  even  outlast  the  average 
"^erm  at  such  places;  it  matters  not;  her  doom  is 


131 


CHICAGO 

certain.  The  time  will  come  when  she  must  leave 
the  aristocracy  of  shame,  must  take  the  second 
step  in  her  terrible  career.  Seven  years  for  the 
majority  of  these  women,  then  death  in  its  most 
horrible  form.  Some  may,  and  do,  anticipate  the 
end  of  it  by  suicide ;  few  ever  escape  from  it. 

"The  wages  of  sin  is  death."  Some  cherish  the 
hope  that  after  a  few  years  of  pleasure,  they  will 
reform ;  but  alas,  they  find  it  impossible  to  do  so. 
A  few,  a  very  few,  do  escape,  through  the  aid  ex- 
tended to  them  by  the  "missions,"  but  they  are  so 
few  that  they  but  help  to  emphasize  the  hopeless- 
ness of  the  effort.  The  doom  of  the  fallen  woman 
is  swift  and  sure!  "The  wages  of  sin  is  death." 
Once  entered  upon  a  career  of  shame,  the  whole 
world  sets  its  face  against  her.  Even  the  men  who 
associated  with  her  in  her  palmy  days  would  turn 
a  deaf  ear  to  her  appeals  for  aid  after  she  has 
gone  down  into  the  depths.  I  would  to  God  that 
the  women  who  are  about  to  enter  upon  this  terri- 
ble life  could  walk  through  the  purlieu  of  the 
"red-light"  district  and  witness  the  sights  that  I 
have  seen  there.  I  would  they  could  see  the 
awful,  despairing  faces  that  look  out  from  the 


132 


CHICAGO 

bagnios  of  that  terrible  nieghborhood,  and  realize 
that,  however  brilliant  the  opening  of  tlieir  career 
may  be,  this  must  be  the  end  of  it.  It  is  idle  for 
them  to  hope  to  escape  the  doom  of  the  fallen 
woman.  ''The  wages  of  sin  is  death."  Would 
anyone  know  what  sort  of  death?  Let  her  come 
to  Chicago  and  see. 

Jlany  of  the  women  of  the  town  never  pass 
through  the  various  gradations  of  vice  that  I  have 
described. 

Many  never  see  the  inside  of  a  fasliionable  house 
of  ill-fame,  but  begin  lower  down  the  scale,  as 
inmates  of  second-class  houses,  as  waiter  girls  in 
concert  saloons,  as  inmates  of  dance  houses — 
which  were  so  prevalent  in  Chicago  years  ago — 
or  as  street  walkers.  These  meet  their  inevitable 
doom  all  the  more  quickly,  but  not  less  surely. 

The  city  is  full  of  people,  men  and  women, 
whose  object  is  to  lead  young  girls  into  lives  of 
shame.  They  watch  the  hotels,  depots  and  large 
stores  and  lure  respectable  girls  away  on  various 
pretexts.  Every  inducement  is  held  out  to  work- 
ing girls  and  women  to  adopt  the  vile  trade,  and 
many  fall  willing  victims.  Hundreds  of  these 
women  are  from  rural  districts  of  adjoining  states. 


133 


CHICAGO 

They  come  to  the  city  seeking  work  aud  are  some- 
times successful.  Often,  however,  they  can  find 
nothing  to  do,  and  when  poverty  and  want  stare 
them  in  the  face,  they  listen  to  the  voice  of  the 
tempter,  become  street  walkers  or  inmates  of 
houses  of  ill-fame.  Sometimes,  while  they  are  in 
the  first  days  of  their  success,  they  will  write 
home  that  they  are  pursuing  honest  callings  in  the 
city  and  earning  respectable  livings,  and  will  even 
send  money  home  to  their  deluded  parents.  After 
a  while  the  letters  cease — the  writer  has  gone 
into  the  depths ;  they  are  lost ! 

It  is,  indeed,  strange  to  see  how  these  women 
v/ill  cherish  the  memory  of  their  homes  even  in 
the  midst  of  tlieir  shame.  They  will  speak  at  the 
pleasant  home,  or  their  aged  father  and  mother, 
in  accents  full  of  despair.  Often  these  memories 
will  cause  them  to  burst  into  uncontrollable  weep- 
ing. If  one  should  try  +o  take  advantage  of  this 
moment  of  tenderness,  and  urge  them  to  make  an 
effort  to  reform,  they  are  met  with  but  one  an- 
swer:   **It  is  too  late." 

The  keepers  of  the  bagnios  of  the  city  use  every 
means  to  lure  young  women  into  thei;  power. 
Some  years  since,  a   girl  who  L&a  iiianaged  to 


134 


CHICAGO 

escape  from  a  notorious  brothel,  told  the  follow- 
ing story : 

"I  watched  the  advertisements  in  the  papers  to 
see  something  that  would  suit  me.    I  learned  that 

a  Mrs.  G of street  wanted  two  girls  to  do 

light  chamber  work,  and  I  hastened  there,  with  a 
friend,  in  quest  of  the  position.    We  were  received 

by  ]\Irs.  G ,  who  began  to  explain  to  us  the 

nature  of  the  duties  we  were  expected  to  perform. 
It  was  an  awful  proposition.  She  kept  a  house  of 
ill-fame.  We  fled.  I  was  much  discouraged.  Not 
so  my  friend,  who  told  me  there  was  another  lady 
down  the  street,  who  was  really  in  want  of  a  girl 
to  help  her.  We  went  to  her  house.  It  was  an- 
other of  the  same  sort ;  but  after  I  got  in  there  my 
clothes  were  taken  from  me,  and  the  woman  fur- 
nished me  with  some  sort  of  silk,  trimmed  with 
fur,  and  tried  to  make  me  act  like  the  other  girls 
in  her  establishment.  I  remained  there  from  Sat- 
urday to  Wednesday  night,  because  I  could  not 
get  away.  I  had  no  clothes  to  wear  in  the  streets, 
even  if  I  should  succeed  in  reaching  them,  whicli 
M^as  impossible,  and  the  woman  who  kept  the 
house  was  angry  with  me,  brutally  so,  because  I 
would  not  comply  with  her  wishes.    I  and  another 


135 


CHICAGO 

young  girl  tried  to  escape  by  the  back  yard.  The 
other  girl  got  away,  but  I  was  discovered  by  the 
keeper,  who  drove  me  back  into  the  house  with 
curses.  On  "Wednesday  evening  I  was  made  to  sit 
at  a  window  and  call  a  man,  who  was  passing,  into 
the  house.  He  turned  out  to  be  a  detective,  and 
arrested  me,  and  was  the  means  of  my  freedom!" 

The  police  are  often  called  upon  by  relatives 
of  abandoned  women  to  assist  them  in  finding 
them  and  rescuing  them  from  their  lives  of  shame. 
Sometimes,  in  the  eases  of  very  young  girls,  these 
efforts  are  successful,  and  the  poor  creature  gladly 
goes  with  friends.  Others  again  refuse  to  leave 
their  wretched  haunts;  they  prefer  to  lead  their 
lives  of  infamy. 

One  night  a  young  man  called  at  the  "Apollo," 
a  theatre  and  dance  house  on  Third  Avenue — now 
Plymouth  Place — and  inquired  for  his  sister  Dora, 
who,  he  had  learned,  was  in  that  place.  The 
young  lady  came  out,  while  he  was  speaking,  in 
company  with  a  well-dressed  man.  Instead  of 
complying  with  her  brother's  entreaties,  she  en- 
tered a  carriage,  with  her  escort,  and  drove  to  a 
nearby  police  station  to  seek  relief  from  her 
brother's  importunities.     The  brother   followed. 


136 


CHICAGO 

told  the  sergeant  the  story  of  his  sister's  shame, 
and  asked  him  to  keep  her  there  until  he  could 
summon  the  father.  The  sergeant  complied  with 
the  request  and  the  father  soon  appeared.  He  was 
a  respectable  oil  manufacturer  and  had  lavished 
wealth  and  fine  dress  upon  the  wayAvard  child. 
He  confirmed  his  son's  statements,  and  appealed 
to  his  daughter  to  go  home  with  him.  She  an- 
swered him  flippantly,  and  the  indignant  father 
cursed  her  for  her  sin,  and  would  have  attacked 
the  man  with  her  had  not  officers  prevented  him. 
The  woman  was  locked  up  for  the  night  in  the 
station  house,  and  brought  before  court  the  next 
morning.  The  father  urged  that  she  should  be 
sent  to  some  reformatory  establishment,  but  the 
woman  met  him  with  the  statement  that  she  was 
twenty-three  years  old,  beyond  legal  control,  and 
therefore  entitled  to  choose  her  own  mode  of  life. 
Pier  plea  was  valid,  and  the  magistrate  was  un- 
willingly compelled  to  discharge  her  from  custody, 
though  he  endeavored  to  persuade  her  to  return  to 
her  family.  She  then  left  the  court  room,  was 
joined  by  several  flashily-dressed  women,  and 
departed  in  high  spirits,  completely  ignoring  her 
relatives. 


137 


CHICAGO 

One  of  the  worst  classes  of  abandoned  women 
consists  of  street  walkers.  On  any  of  the  business 
streets  and  even  in  outlying  districts  these  wom- 
en are  very  numerous.  They  are  generally  well 
dressed,  and,  as  a  rule,  are  young.  They  pursue 
certain  regular  routes,  rarely  pausing,  unless  they 
"pick-up"  a  companion,  when  they  dart  off  with 
him  to  some  side  street.  On  the  brilliantly  lighted 
thoroughfares  the  police  do  not  allow  them  to 
stop  and  accost  men,  but  they  manage  to  do  so. 
The  neighobrhoods  of  the  "hotels"  and  the  places 
of  "amusement"  are  their  principal  cruising 
grounds,  and  their  victims  are  mainly  strangers 
to  the  city.  Many  of  them  have  regular  employ- 
ment during  the  day,  and  ply  their  wretched  trade 
at  night  to  increase  their  gains.  They  accompany 
their  victims  to  the  "bed-houses"  which  are  con- 
veniently at  hand,  and  if  an  opportunity  occurs 
will  rob  him.  They  frequent  the  dance  halls  and 
concert  saloons ;  in  fact,  every  place  to  which  they 
can  obtain  admission,  and  lure  men  into  their  com- 
pany. As  a  rule  they  are  vicious  in  the  extreme, 
drink  heavily,  and  in  some  cases  are  fearfully 
diseased. 

xn  former  years  many  of  the   street  walkers 


138 


CHICAGO 

were  in  the  regular  employ  of  the  "panel-houses," 
which  were  numerous  at  that  time.  These  houses 
Avere  kept  by  men,  who  were  among  the  most 
disparate  roughs  in  Chicago.  The  woman  is  either 
mistress  of  one  of  these  men,  or  in  his  pay.  The 
method  pursued  was  as  follows:  The  street  walker 
secures  her  victim  on  the  street,  or  at  some  con- 
cert hall,  or  dance-house.  He  is  generally  a 
stranger,  and  ignorant  of  the  localities  of  the  city. 
She  takes  him  to  her  room,  which  is  an  apartment 
provided  with  a  partition  in  which  there  is  a  slid- 
ing door  or  panel.  The  confederate  of  the  woman 
is  connealed  behind  the  partition,  and  at  a  favor- 
able moment  slides  back  the  panel,  enters  the 
room  and  strips  the  clothing  of  the  victim  of  the 
money  and  valuables  contained  in  it.  If  discov- 
ered, tlie  panel  thief  endeavors  to  disable  the 
victim.  The  latter  is  no  match  for  his  assailant, 
and  is  from  the  first  at  a  disadvantage.  The  thief 
is  desperate,  and  is  generally  armed.  He  does 
not  hesitate  at  anything,  and,  if  necessary,  will 
murder  the  victim,  the  woman  assisting  him  in 
the  fearful  work.  Then  the  body  is  left  until 
near  morning,  when  it  is  placed  in  a  wagon  en- 
gaged by  the  thief,  carried  to  the  river  or  lake. 


139 


CHICAGO 

and  then  thrown  into  the  water.  Geuerally  the 
robbery  is  accomplished  without  the  necessity  of 
resorting  to  violence.  The  victim  either  puts  up 
with  his  loss  in  silence,  or  reports  it  to  the  police. 
The  records  at  headquarters  contain  reports  of 
numerous  robberies  of  this  kind.  So  the  evil  went 
on.  Strangers  in  this  city  incur  terrible  risk  in 
accompanying  street  walkers,  and  women  whom 
they  meet  on  the  street,  at  concert  and  dance 
halls  to  their  homes.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten, 
robbery  is  certain.  Murder  is  too  often  the  re- 
sult of  such  adventure.  Truly,  Solomon  was  wise 
indeed  when  he  wrote:  **He  hath  taken  a  bag  of 
money  with  him — with  her  much  fair  speech  she 
caused  him  to  yield,  with  flattering  of  her  lips  she 
forced  him — he  goeth  after  her  straightway,  as 
an  ox  goeth  to  the  slaughter,  or  as  a  fool  to  the 
correction  of  the  stocks;  till  a  dart  strike  through 
his  liver ;  as  a  bird  hastened  to  the  snare,  and 
knoweth  not  it  is  for  his  life — her  house  is  the  way 
to  hell  going  down  to  the  chambers  of  death.'" 


140 


mo 

rpM 


